Each to their own but I think Year One is by far the better book. I think the first half of Dark Knight Returns is brilliant but the second half is a strange mix. It worked better in the animation than the book IMO. The best future story ever in my opinion is Kingdom Come but that's because I'm more a Superman.

I love the part in which Superman survives the nuclear blast, the scene almost makes him synonymous with a nuclear weapon. Reagan saying they have God on their side or the next best thing. Literally he means superman, figuratively this was written at the end of the cold war, '86 and people were still making bomb shelters. The fight between superman and batman at the end of the book is incredibly symbolic. Batman is a normal man refusing to bow to a government that now has god like powers on their side, aka nuclear weapons. It's an incredible message of courage.